The 2009 Hennessy XO Literary Awards shortlist has been announced. The competition will be judged by poet Paula Meehan and novelist Carlo Gébler.
The awards will be announced at a ceremony in Trinity College on Tuesday, 20th April 2010. On the night one eminent Irish writer will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Previous Hall of Fame awards have gone to Hugo Hamilton, Joseph O’Connor, Anne Enright, Colum McCann and Pat McCabe.
Now in its 39th year, the competition offers four awards, First Fiction, Emerging Fiction, Emerging Poetry and the overall Hennessy XO Literary Award itself. Category winners will receive €1,500 and a specially commissioned sculpture. The winner of the overall award will be chosen from the three category winners and will receive an additional €2,500. The full list of nominees is below:
First Fiction
Rob O’Shea
Madeleine D’Arcy
Sarah O’Loughlin
John O’Donnell
Oona Frawley
Alice Redmond
Emerging Fiction
James Lawless
Andrew Fox
Michael O’Higgins
Niamh Boyce
Alison Wells
Kate Dempsey
Emerging Poetry
Michael Massey
Olive Broderick
Aideen Henry
Cathal McCabe
Helena Mulkerns
Cliona O’Connell
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16 Comments
Yes, that’s me there. Nervous already.
Congrats!
Congratulations Kate!! Very exciting!
Super honour, my heart is in my mouth but thrilled to be on the shortlist!
Congrats Alison!
See you there Alison!
Absolutely fabulous, Alison. Well deserved and a long time coming! Those of us who ‘discovered’ you years ago have been fans ever since. Now it’s time for the rest of the world to enjoy your talent!
Best of luck with the Hennessey Awards,
Fiona.
Well done Alison, you deserve it!
Well done. Best of luck with it :-)
Fantastic, well done. An excellent accolade for your CV
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Huge congrats to everyone on the short list, fabulous! Everyone at Inkwell sends their very best to you all. So exciting!
All best
Vanessa
Congrats to everyone on the list. Alison – it’s more than an honour, it’s recognition of your hard work and great skill as writer. I hope everyone one the shortlist is already celebrating. Getting this far is a major achievement.
Congratulations Kate! You must be very excited. We met a long time ago – at the 2002 Francis MacManus Awards. I remember having a chat with you about the Tallaght Library writers’ group of which I was a member at the time. Best of Luck!
Hi Tanya, I do remember (vaguely) Thanks. How’s your own writing going?
Yes. It’s going well, Kate. I’m currently doing a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing through the University of Wales. I’m just over halfway through my first novel, which is quite exciting. I see you’re going to Nuala’s launch next week, so I will probably see you there!